Should You Sell Stocks in December?

last updated 2017-12-10

Should you sell stocks in December? Why end of year portfolio rebalancing may not make sense--especially with capital gains taxes and the January Effect.

The stock market tends to go down in late December. Why? The January Effect suggests
that large funds tend to rebalance their portfolios and investors sell
underperforming stocks to take advantage of capital losses at the end of
December.

This may affect your stocks—even if you don't sell anything.
This may also be a tactic you can take advantage of.

At least, you have to pay taxes when you realize a profit within a calendar
year. That tax isn't paid for each transaction; it covers the year as a whole,
allowing you to offset
profits by selling stocks for a loss. The basic principle is simple: any
losses will offset any gains. In other words, you pay taxes on the net
capital gains from stock sales; this is the sum of all profits minus the
sum of all losses of all stock sales. If you made $1000 selling McDonald's stock and lost $800 selling Xerox stock, your net capital gains would be $1000
- $800 or $200.

This isn't trivial; you have to understand the difference between short-term
and long-term capital gains. Selling stocks at a loss may be beneficial in some
circumstances, but the details depend on your own situation. Consult a tax
professional for specific advice.

Short Term versus Long Term Capital Gains

In the United States, any capital gains on an equity you've held for more
than a year are considered long-term capital gains. Any gains on an equity
you've held for less than a year (a day, a week, an hour, three hundred and
sixty four days) are short term gains.

The difference between 364 days and 365 days can be stark; if you're in the
highest marginal tax bracket where you pay 39.6% on income, short term capital
gains are taxed at that rate. Your long term capital gains rate would be a
maximum of 20%, almost half of that.

The lower your marginal income tax rate, the lower your capital gains rate
may be; perhaps 15%, 10%, or even 0%. (It's unlikely to be 0% unless you have
almost no taxable income.)

As you build more wealth, the difference between 20% taxes and 39.6% taxes
grows.

Tax Loss Harvesting

Because taxes operate on income and capital gains and losses realized during
a calendar year, you can take advantage of changes in the value of your
equities to smooth out your tax liabilities. Tax loss harvesting is the process
of selling an equity for a loss then reinvesting the money from the sale.

Suppose you've found an undervalued
stock. You bought it on January 3 for $10,000. It then started to lose
money (and you think that trend will continue). It's still a good company and undervalued, but
for the foreseeable future (this tax year), its price isn't going up. Now it's
worth $5,000 and you've been eyeing a better stock candidate.

If you sell that stock for $5,000 and buy something else that will perform
better, you've realized a $5,000 loss and put your money elsewhere. You can use
that $5,000 loss to offset $5,000 gains elsewhere (and avoid paying $750 or
$1000 on it).

This happens in December, and it can be a good technique, if you're careful.
Keep in mind two rules. First, the transaction must settle by December
31st to apply for the 2017 calendar year. The last day to sell stocks for a tax
loss in 2017 is probably December 28 or 29, if your broker will settle the
transaction before December 31. (Things get more complicated if you're waiting
for a short sale transaction to settle.)

The other rule for harvesting tax losses is more complicated....

The Wash Sale Rule

The SEC's Wash Sale rule
says that if you buy more of the same stock within 30 days of a sale, you
cannot apply the losses when calculating your net capital gains or
losses. The details sound complicated, but remember this: buying and selling
stock within 30 days has tremendous implications for your tax position.

Remember, though: the goal of value investing isn't to minimize capital
gains taxes. It's to build wealth over the long term. Managing your taxes is
part of that, but it's far more important to buy great stocks at good
prices and let the market pay you back.

December Portfolio Rebalancing

If taxes aren't a concern—especially if you're investing in a
non-taxable or not-yet-taxable fashion—does it make sense to rebalance
your portfolio at the end of the year?

It depends.

Portfolio rebalancing is a way to reduce your risk by diversifying your
investments. In its most naïve form, you sell your higher performing
stocks and buy more lower performers.

Think about that for a second. Does it make any sense? Get rid of the
winners and buy more losers? A better approach is to reduce the amount of your
portfolio you have in risky investments and increase the amount you have in
safer investments. It's almost a cliché: put more in index funds or
bonds as you get older.

The time of year when you do this is arbitrary. It doesn't have to be
December. Arguably December is a poor time to do this, as the market's frothy
from people churning stocks for tax purposes. You can just as easily reinvest dividends from riskier stocks
in safer places—no selling required. Of course, if you have the bulk of
your portfolio in a good index fund which
tracks the S&P 500, rebalancing is rarely an issue.

Can You Predict December Selloffs?

Can you profit from a trend of stock selloffs in December? It depends. Are
your target stocks going on sale? The January Effect is real enough to have a
name and serious analysis behind it, but can you predict a drop in the DJIA in general or a specific price reduction for
the right stock you want to buy?

This is a specific case of the general question of whether value investors should
time the market. If you're not pursuing specific tax benefits and if you're
not watching specific companies for bargains, there's little point in trying to
buy or sell with extra urgency in December. The only way to make money in the
stock market reliably is to buy good companies low, hold them, and sell high.
If you can't find good stocks at good prices, you're better off waiting (keep
your money in a low-cost index fund).

Timing the market means predicting the actions of
millions of investors is difficult. If you have your goals, research, and
plan, stick with it! Don't let the desire to make a few quick bucks in the
short term distract you from your real goal: building long-term wealth in the
stock market. Decembers come and Decembers go. Healthy businesses make money
annually, consistently, over time—they're the stocks you want to own for
decades.